Navigating a Nation-State Cyberattack
As senior advisor to a national political institution’s CEO and leadership team, Anu worked on the response to a foreign state-sponsored cyber intrusion and the mass disclosure of internal communications — defending against charges of institutional bias during a contested primary season and advising through a leadership resignation just ahead of the nominating convention.
Protecting Enterprise Value Through Transformational Deals
As senior counselor to ownership at a major sports and entertainment enterprise, Anu advised on stakeholder risk and public positioning through its defining transactions — the first sovereign wealth fund investment in U.S. professional sports, a regional sports network acquisition, and a landmark $1 billion public-private arena partnership — while leading market-facing communications through a period in which published enterprise valuation grew from $3.3B to $7.8B.
Governing Through Federal-Local Conflict
As cabinet-level communications chief for a major U.S. city government, Anu led message strategy through a federal government shutdown, maintaining public confidence in city services while federal operations froze around it, and helped drive a 10-point increase in the mayor’s public approval amid sustained national scrutiny.
Repositioning a Global Brand After Adversarial Coverage
For a multinational green energy and utility conglomerate, Anu repositioned the company with a leading global news outlet following months of adversarial press, restoring executive credibility with key stakeholders and improving market perception — one part of an advisory practice that also spans market entry and executive positioning for organizations expanding across the U.S. and Indian markets.
American Car Manufacturer Seeking Congressional Relief During Global Market Slow-Down
Anu led the grassroots communications strategy, which incorporated a multi-prong tactical effort across several months. This included generating coverage of 3rd party support statements; pitching and securing coverage in local market media markets with key allies and spokespeople; organizing D.C. fly-ins of mayors, auto dealers, union officials, and parts/service operators; drafting and placing op-eds, blogs and articles nationally and in local markets. The U.S. House passed a bill with 237 votes, yet fell short in the U.S. Senate by 2 votes. Ultimately, under intense public pressure generated through the PR campaign, the Administration granted $14B for the client.
Education Union Highlighting a Best-Practice Reform Model
Recognizing that sometimes the best national strategy is to first generate coverage in local outlets, Anu prepared the local union’s leadership, district teachers, and parents for media interviews, then pitched and secured coverage with local editorial boards in daily and specialty papers, radio interviews, and local TV. She drafted opinion pieces and blogs and trained local advocates on social media maximization. With a base of coverage from across the country, she then worked with a global think tank to develop a white paper on the union’s successful bargaining agreement, put together a panel discussion on it in D.C. with national reporters and landed a segment on a network’s nightly news broadcast.
Regional Business Leaders Building Economic Cooperation Across 22 Jurisdictions
Anu worked with the region’s top business and industry CEOs and an academic team at a leading research university to educate reporters and drive media attention to evolving demographic and job-growth sector changes. She drafted and placed numerous op-eds in national and regional publications, secured print, radio, and local TV interviews, drafted weekly blog installments, and grew the coalition’s online social engagement, producing earned media events around white paper releases, press conferences, and quarterly convenings of the association. Three major infrastructure spending bills and projects can be traced directly to the credibility the PR campaign built for the group.
Civic Engagement Non-Profit Mobilizing New Voting Blocs
Anu designed a PR campaign to differentiate the non-profit’s work registering and turning out the “Rising American Electorate” and unmarried women as critical voting blocs, securing on-camera interviews with CNN, MSNBC, and Huffington Post Live, and articles in Politico, The Hill, Roll Call, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and dozens of other national and state and local publications. Using earned media hooks such as commissioned polling, millions of quarterly voter registration mailings, and public speaking opportunities secured for leadership, she dramatically increased the organization’s credibility through the spotlight the campaign generated.
Stock Exchange Platform Seeking Regulatory Clarity on Derivative Markets
Anu mobilized validators and local spokespeople across fifteen states to draw a connection between the financial vehicle and the dividends it provided for their livelihoods and neighborhoods. She identified and educated members of diverse communities — faith leaders, teachers, and small business owners — on a simplified version of the complex legislation, guiding them to create digestible soundbites, authentic to their voice and experience, for interviews, press conferences, and written materials. The policy victory was credited with saving tens of millions of dollars.
Global Payment Company Countering Negative Credit-Practices Coverage
Anu collaborated with the company’s charitable-giving team to showcase individual lives and local communities benefiting from its direct investment, driving a digital campaign that humanized the brand: documentary-quality testimonials promoted on YouTube, passionate Facebook posts from community leaders, a Twitter hashtag campaign, and a curation of Instagram images showing how individuals used their credit to better their lives and towns. Through that online storytelling, followed by a traditional media push, the program’s press criticism was blunted.
Kolar Strategy Group 